Specializations
Many of the difficulties people bring to therapy — such as anxiety, depression, trauma, grief, anger, and questions of cultural identity — don’t exist in isolation. They shape how we relate to ourselves and to the people we care about. In therapy, we take time to understand what you’re carrying, where it comes from, and what begins to change when it can be held with more support and meaning.
Anger
Anger is a core human emotion. At its best, it helps us recognize boundaries, protect what matters, and respond to what feels threatening or unjust. When anger becomes chronic, explosive, or hard to regulate, it can create painful consequences in relationships, work, and self-esteem.
In therapy, we explore how anger functions in your life — what it responds to, what it protects, and how it has come to take the shape it has. Over time, this work can help anger feel more understandable and less overwhelming, allowing for greater choice in how it is expressed.
Anxiety
Anxiety can show up as persistent worry, rumination, restlessness, difficulty sleeping, or a feeling of being constantly on edge. It is often experienced not only emotionally, but physically as well — through tension, tightness, or difficulty settling.
Sometimes anxiety is connected to a specific stressor; other times it has deeper roots in early experiences, relational uncertainty, or a nervous system that has learned to stay on alert. Therapy can help you recognize the pattern of your anxiety and gradually build more capacity to feel steady, connected, and grounded.
Depression
Depression is often experienced as exhaustion, heaviness, sadness, numbness, withdrawal, or a loss of meaning. Many people also notice self-criticism, shame, or a sense of disconnection from others and from themselves.
In therapy, we make room to understand what the depression may be organizing or holding in place, and what has become difficult to feel directly. As experience becomes more bearable and more speakable, the internal world can begin to shift — often in small but meaningful ways that accumulate over time.
Trauma
Trauma can follow overwhelming experiences — whether sudden events or ongoing relational conditions — that leave the mind and body feeling stuck in survival mode. People may experience hypervigilance, emotional flooding, shutdown, nightmares, or a sense that the past is intruding on the present.
In our work together, we move at a pace that feels safe and collaborative. Rather than forcing exposure, the focus is on building stability and supporting gradual integration, so you can feel more present in your life and relationships.
Grief and Loss
Grief can arise after a death, a breakup, a rupture, or any meaningful loss. It may include sadness, longing, numbness, irritability, disorientation, or changes in sleep, appetite, or concentration. Even when others expect you to be “over it,” grief often unfolds on its own timeline.
Therapy can offer a place to mourn without rushing, to make sense of what was lost, and to integrate memory and meaning in a way that supports continued living — while honoring what mattered.
Cultural Identity
For many people, cultural identity is not a fixed category but an ongoing lived experience. Feeling shaped by multiple cultures, family expectations, or histories of migration can create tension around belonging, loyalty, and self-understanding.
I work with individuals from diverse cultural backgrounds who are navigating these questions. I am of Vietnamese descent and a native speaker of both English and Vietnamese, and my own lived experience informs a thoughtful and respectful approach to this work. In therapy, we explore cultural identity with nuance, supporting a more integrated and grounded sense of self.
Email me or call for a consultation: (415) 938-7670